


please come back to me

by halcyonskies



Series: 100Themes: Dean/Cas [28]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Age Regression/De-Aging, Gen, Hunter Castiel, Spells & Enchantments, Witches
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-06
Updated: 2015-10-06
Packaged: 2018-04-25 03:41:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 398
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4945420
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/halcyonskies/pseuds/halcyonskies
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Castiel would love Dean in any form, but he wants his hunter back.</p>
            </blockquote>





	please come back to me

**Author's Note:**

> 100Themes Challenge - #2: Youth

Castiel pressed two fingers to the child’s soft skin, looking back into the green eyes that watched him curiously.

“I’m no longer an angel,” he said forlornly, as the touch did nothing.

The little boy reached up and began to play with his fingers. He was so small, younger than Dean would ever have remembered being. It had been terrifying, sprinting into that room, expecting to find Dean battling the witch and instead seeing only a toddler struggling against layers of cloth. The creature herself was either long gone or dead; no evidence of her person had remained, and Castiel hadn’t stuck around to make sure. That was what Sam was doing, now, while Castiel and Dean huddled here on the sagging motel mattress.  

“Cas!” Dean squealed happily. He had said little else, so far. Castiel didn’t know how much of his adult mind Dean had retained, how aware he was of what was going on. He hadn’t really reacted to anything other than Castiel and his own brother. It frightened Castiel, who was used to Dean as a man, as a person who could take care of himself. If Sam couldn’t find a counterspell amidst the witch’s paraphernalia, who knew how long Dean would be stuck like this? The possibility of an entire life relived was daunting.

And Dean’s life was too precious to be held in Castiel’s hands.

Even as an adult, human male Castiel still struggled with certain aspects of day to day life. He’d always been able to go to Dean or Sam if he had difficulties. But if Dean remained like this, as a young life in need of nurturing and guidance, Castiel didn’t know how he could possibly assist in that, when he himself was still like a child in many ways. What would a boy raised by a once-angel and a college student-turned-hunter become in his formative years? They could ruin him.

These fears, by the grace of God, turned out to be unfounded. By mid-afternoon the next day Dean was back to his proper age, complaining about how hungry he was and how much he hated those of the witchy variety. The whole experience left Castiel with the lingering relief that, between the two of them, there would never be a chance of conceiving. Castiel knew, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that parenthood was a thing well beyond him. 


End file.
